Imagine that you’re at the first full staff meeting after the half term holidays. The Headteacher stands up – they’ve got a message to deliver about a new initiative that needs to be a school priority over the next few terms. The message is clear: There have got to be some changes around here.

How does that make you feel?

The image above illustrates the huge variation in people’s experiences of the same organisational culture. For some, the message is welcome – exciting, even. For others, the words land like a grenade – the reaction is fight or flight.

The language of change made me think of Korthagen’s 2017 paper. He talks about the need to unpick the ‘practice shock’ that teachers are in before they can become ready to learn and change.

If we assume that at least some (possibly most) teachers experience a degree of practice shock, then it follows that a fair proportion of the language used will trigger an adverse reaction. This closes down learning and inhibits positive change.

We have to assume it is messy.

To compound matters, we all use language as though it is quite straightforward (Collegiality? Work as a group. Trust? Believe you will be supported.) But language isn’t straightforward. At All.

My analysis revealed all kinds of nuanced sub-categories of cultural language. At the very least, we must assume that what we say might not be received as we intend. We must acknowledge that what we say might cause a negative emotional response if the recipient is traumatised by their work history.

We must confront this issue. We won’t get anywhere by smoothing things over until everything is meaningless. Instead, we must purposefully focus on creating the psychologically safe conditions. Only by doing this can we address what needs to be addressed and move forward in productive and supportive ways.

Korthagen’s model is one way in, but imagine the investment it would take to ‘un-shock’ a generation of teachers. That’s massive! But these issues must be confronted and worked through, because the teacher retention crisis is biting hard, leaders are under increasing pressure, and problems with how teachers experience culture block their capacity for professional learning. The bottom line is, if nobody is open to learning, nothing is likely to improve.

So I challenge policy makers: you want change? Enable us to build change-friendly conditions!

-Korthagen, F. (2017). Inconvenient Truths About Teacher Learning: Towards Professional Development 3.0. Teachers and Teaching, 23(4), 387–405.
-Taylor, K. (2023). Are We All on the Same Page with Professional Learning? Exploring the Relationship Between Organisational Cultures and Teacher Professional Learning in Secondary Schools. Impact, 17.